


let's make stardust together

by Assassin_J



Category: Assassin's Creed
Genre: AC Kinkmeme, Animus Island, Childbirth, Clay's Polish Heritage, Computerized Clay Kaczmarek, Desmond's Vague Knowledge of Arabic, Established Relationship, Light Angst, M/M, Mpreg, Science Fiction, U DECIDE, maybe he's trans, minimal plot, the anatomical details are left up to reader's discretion, the second chapter is kinda shit I'm sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-27
Updated: 2016-03-29
Packaged: 2018-05-29 08:08:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6366058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Assassin_J/pseuds/Assassin_J
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt was <em>I NEED Clay/Des. PLEASE.JUST GIVE ME SOME!ANGST.OR FLUFF.I DON'T CARRRRRE I'm really desperate right now..</em></p>
<p>And so of course I went the weird scifi mpreg route.</p>
<p>It's a kind of AU where Clay wasn't deleted at the end of Revelations; he's still in the Animus systems. And whenever Desmond is connected to the Animus, Clay's able to use its hardware to scan and interact with Desmond's body. At some point they met up again in the Animus Island program thingy and got busy, and somehow this got Desmond pregnant.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I very much struggled with the title before finally settling on this. As per usual it is a song reference. Give me a holler if you by some miracle recognize it.

By some technological feat Desmond didn't entirely understand, the Animus always rendered his avatar in a way that matched the appearance of his actual body. And this accuracy persisted, month after month, as the swell of pregnancy became ever more prominent on his otherwise lean frame.

"Clay!" he called out to the seemingly vacant island. "Claa-ay!"

The digital man sparkled into view, smiling widely. "I'm here, all around you, Des: no need to yell."

"Sorry. I just get so excited." Desmond embraced him with a short kiss and then put his lips close to his ear. "Hey, let's talk names."

"Yes, let's." Clay hugged a little tighter before releasing him. "I have a lot of free time on my hands, which I've used to think up quite a few possibilities, but I'd like to hear your thoughts on the matter first."

Desmond scratched a phantom itch near his belly button. "Well, I woke up the other day with the name 'Helen Miles' in my mind."

"Helen... Miles." Clay repeated, staring fascinated at the spot where Desmond's scratching had wrinkled the shirt fabric.

Desmond laughed. "Hey, my eyes are up here, man."

Clay lazily swiveled his head up, a half-sad look on his face. "Not Helen Kaczmarek?"

"Um... I..."

"Think about it, at least, Desmond." Clay stroked Desmond's cheek with a feather-light fingertip. "It would be a sort of... consolation. To set my name loose in the world, even as I myself am trapped eternally."

Desmond reached up and took his hand. "Clay, I... You deserve that much, at least. After everything you've done. And everything you mean to me."

Clay's frown dissolved away and he shrugged. "Or else you could hyphenate. Kaczmarek-Miles."

"Not Miles-Kaczmarek?"

"K's before M in the alphabet."

Desmond attempted a joke. "Umm, not in the Arabic alphabet?"

Clay smirked sweetly. "Stretching back to Altaïr for an excuse?"

"I, uh-"

"And if we're going Arabic, then our surname choices for Helen would be ibn-Desmond or ibn-Clay, right?"

"Umm. It'd be 'bint' for a girl. 'Ibn' is for boys." Desmond coughed. "Look, never mind the Arabic thing. We can do Kaczmarek-Miles if you want."

Clay was silent a while, eying the baby bump some more. "Helen... It's nice. Simple, but nice. Good choice, hon."

"Yeah." Desmond caressed his belly lovingly. "You got any ideas for a boy name?"

"Oh, you don't know the sex yet?" Clay asked with a sudden wild gleam in his eye.

Desmond backed away and covered his ears. "No, and don't you fucking dare scan it and tell me! I wanna be surprised!"

"All right, all right," Clay sighed. "I just thought it might be helpful for you to know."

"The sex doesn't matter, Clay," Desmond said resolutely, removing his hands from his ears and placing them firmly on his belly. "I'll love our kid the same no matter what. I'll raise a little girl the same as a little boy."

"Tadeusz Kościuszko."

In response to the strange burst of syllables, Desmond could only say "Huh?"

"I relived him, among other people, while I was at Abstergo." Clay's avatar flickered as he spoke, the dirty blonde shortness of his own hair growing vaguely darker, longer, and curlier. "He's a Polish military legend. Recipient of the Virtuti Militari and the Order of the White Eagle." He turned back to himself, but his brown leather jacket became a uniform covered with various insignia.

"Ohh," Desmond said, realization dawning. "You're suggesting I name the kid after him."

"He's one of my favorite ancestors. Nay, he **is** my favorite."

"More favorite than Ezio, even?"

Clay waved a hand and made a dismissive sound. "I didn't even see much of Ezio, and he's overrated anyway. Tadeusz is more hip, more 'underground'."

"I think they're both about six feet underground these days," Desmond joked.

Clay flickered back to his usual clothes with a snort of laughter. "Right, right. But let's not talk about death. Let's stay focused on the new life in process of creation."

Desmond nodded. "Right. So if it's a girl, Helen, and if it's a boy... what was it? Tadayush?"

"Ta-de-oosh," Clay corrected. "And that's T-A-D-E-U-S-Z."

"You Poles and your Z's in everything."

Clay pouted a little. "Hey, I had a great-uncle Zdzisław, at least I didn't suggest him."

"Okay, right. Tadeusz. Well... I'll consider it?"

"Don't patronize me, Desmond."

"No, seriously, I'll consider it, Clay." Desmond smiled. "Although I might hafta call him 'Teddy'. At least while he's young. Tadeusz doesn't really strike me as a 'baby' sort of name."

"I suppose not. Not in this day and age." Clay reached out a tentative hand. "Can I feel?"

"I dunno, you tell me. You're the expert on being a computer program. Can computer programs 'feel'?"

Clay didn't bother responding to that, but just grasped the bottom hem of Desmond's thin t-shirt and peeled it up to reveal the slightly hairy bulge, then put his hands on either side of his navel. "Hello, Helen. Or Tadeusz."

"Baby can't hear you," Desmond said. "At least, I'm pretty sure they can't. 'Cause their brain's not the one hooked into the Animus, mine is."

Clay looked up at him, eyes wide and shaky. "Oh god. Our child... We're having a child."

"Mm," Desmond nodded. "Freaks me out, too, when I really think about it."

Clay's head fell.

Desmond lifted a hand and flowed fingers through Clay's sandy hair. "You okay?" he asked, with clear understanding that he probably wasn't.

"I'm dead," Clay said limply, fingers convulsing around the hem of Desmond's shirt.

"You're alive enough; you're here, talking to me."

Clay shook his head wildly. "All I can do is talk- talk and think and _compute_! Because I live in a god damn _computer_!" The next second, he glitched a couple yards away. "I can't touch, or taste, or travel the world, or even travel to the next god damn _room_!" He shook his head again. "And you'll be out there, raising our child... I won't get to watch h- our child grow up! Take first steps, say first words!"

"Well... crap," Desmond said. How the hell did he not think of this before? "I guess... um.... Once they're older, they could visit you in here like I do?"

Clay was panicking now, not even able to process the suggestion. "Oh, Desmond! My dear, dear Desmond!" He fell against one of the strange stone blocks and gripped the sides of his head. "I won't even be able to do such a basic thing as being by your side during labor and delivery!"

Desmond went a bit pale at those last three words. "Uh. Shit." He did _not_ want to think about giving birth right now. "Okay, uh, we got a while before that, though. I mean, I'm not even due 'til September. So maybe we can work something out?"

"Work something out?" Clay repeated testily. "Like _what_ exactly? You got a _host_ lined up for me to take over the body of? Because outside of that I don't know what my other options are!"

Desmond looked really forlorn. "I... I'm sorry, man." He smoothed his shirt back down over his belly. "Shit, I never thought about the fucking... long-term thing of you being cooped up in here." He cast his gaze about the desolate island. "I dunno. Maybe you _should_ just, y'know, hitch a ride into my brain, like you suggested once."

Clay sighed and slid down to the virtual ground. "No. That wouldn't be right. Two minds in one body: it's just begging for trouble. And likely confusing as all get out for a child to grow up with her two fathers fused."

Desmond came over and sat beside Clay, throwing an arm around his shoulder in silent lament.

Clay sighed again, and leaned his head against Desmond. "Cruel fate I've assigned myself to, eh? Through technology I've managed to outlive my suicide." He laid his hand on Desmond's belly again. "And now, through technology, I've managed to posthumously sire a child, whom I'll almost certainly outlive as well."

Desmond felt himself tearing up, and he couldn't even attribute it 100% to pregnancy hormones. "Don't talk like that, hon, okay?"

"It's only the truth. Unless my code on these servers is wiped by some error or malice, I will remain, eternal."

Desmond was silent and sniffly for a minute or so. In the distance, unreal waters quietly lapped at the shore.

"When you're ready to go, you could... go on your own," Desmond said after an ineffable while. The words were unsteady; he didn't want to think too hard about their meaning.

"Yes," Clay said, drawing the word out thoughtfully. "Self-destruct my code."

Desmond hugged him closer, with both arms now. "Not for a long long time, though. We're still in the prime of life."

"Of course, of course." Clay rubbed Desmond's cheek with slow heartfelt fingerstrokes. "I have to be there for you and our child, even if only in this limited simulated capacity."

Desmond felt the baby kick, and a fresh wave of emotion hit him. "You know what, Clay?" he said suddenly. "We'll find a way somehow, all right? To let you have a life outside this fucking island."

Clay looked unconvinced.

"Look, they're doing cray things with Animus tech these days. We can relive _other people's ancestors_ , for cryin' out loud! And we have more brainpower now, y'know? We have the fucking Initiates, you've heard of them, right? Like a whole new tech hacker collective, like that Erudito thing except they actually fucking help us out with stuff."

Clay smiled faintly. "I'll try to keep up hope, then."

Desmond smiled back and snuggled into him. "So... What was that great-uncle's name again? Zee-swaft?"

"Zdzisław. That's Z-D-Z-I-S-velarized L-"

"Vela-what now?"

Clay chuckled. "Polish has a grand total of thirty-two letters."

"Geez louise."

"Yeah, it's a hell of a language." 


	2. Chapter 2

"You're nearly done," Dr. Chiu said, impossibly chipper. "Just a little bit more."

"You fucking said that **forty minutes ago**!" Desmond yelled. He was red in the face from both exertion and agitation. "I'm tired of all this stupid pushing!"

She patted his knee. "I know it's been slow, but you _are_ making progress. Your baby _is_ moving down."

Desmond exhaled and slumped back on the less-than-comfortable medical bed. "Ugh. Fucking cut me open and get it over with."

The doctor shook her head. "We can't, not at this stage. Just stay the course and keep pushing whenever you feel the urge."

"Right now I feel the urge to fucking **kill someone**! Oh god-" Desmond's breath hitched with the start of another contraction, and he gripped the bedrails white-knuckle-tight. "I... can't... do this!"

"Yes you can!"

That voice cut through Desmond's pain, strong and clear. Dimly, he turned his head to look at the screen with his lover's face on it. "Clay..."

"Desmond, I know this is hard, but listen." After much experimentation, they'd managed to rig up a system to let Clay watch and communicate with the outside world. And he was very, very appreciative of said system right now. "You have to stay calm and focused, for your sake and the baby's. Breathe."

"Fucking breathing," Desmond spat. If he never heard the word "breathe" again it would be too goddamn soon.

"I know it's cliché, but think about it: Your body's working hard and needs oxygen. Plus the baby's oxygen supply is still linked to yours. So breathe, goddammit!"

The contraction peaked and Desmond's face scrunched up as a low moan tore from his throat.

Yes, Clay appreciated this setup they had, but it was a far cry from an actual body. He wished to hell he could touch Desmond, soothe him with a hug or a kiss or anything at all. Alas, he was limited to just his words. "Come on, Des, you've done such magnificent things in the past. I know you can do this too."

"Ooohhh Clay... ohhh- ahh- nnnhhhgh!"

"Yes, good, nice strong push!" Dr. Chiu enthused. "Keep it up and baby will be here before you know it!"

Desmond bore down a few more seconds, then gasped for fresh breath. Sweat was rolling off every part of him. "God I'm so hot!"

Clay attempted a joke. "You're always hot to me, Des. That's exactly how this happened; you were damn irresistable."

"Once we get you a body, I'm fucking knocking you up as revenge," Desmond retorted, though half in jest.

"All right by me, Des," Clay promised, heartfelt.

Desmond smiled weakly.

"We need to finish having _this_ baby first, guys," Dr. Chiu laughed.

"Yeah, yeah, duh." Desmond took another deep breath, savoring the break between contractions. "Can you help me up? I can't fucking take lying down anymore."

Dr. Chiu gladly assisted him out of the bed. "I was going to suggest a change in position soon anyway. What position would you like instead?"

No sooner had Desmond opened his mouth to answer, he was gripped with another contraction. "Unnngh." He leaned on the doctor heavily. "Go-ohd... Clay! I- I wanna be next to Clay!"

"All right, we can certainly do that." She smiled at Clay's camera. The actual servers housing his consciousness were in another room, but through the wizardry of wi-fi, he was mobile: a monitor, microphone, and webcam on a wheeled computer cart. She guided Desmond over to said cart now, making sure the wheels were locked in place as he leaned on it.

"Clay," Desmond whispered, looking into his eyes on the display. "I- unnnh. F-fuck." He tensed and held tight to the cart as his body actually started pushing again without conscious decision. "Nnn, ahh!"

"Hang in there, tough guy. Just a little bit more. And don't forget breathing for oxygen."

Somehow when _Clay_ said "just a little bit more" Desmond actually believed it. He panted slowly, slogging through the pain as the baby moved down centimeter by centimeter.

"That's my good man," Clay said warmly. "Effective breathing, effective pushing, and we'll be meeting our little one soon enough."

Desmond's breathing pattern continued for a few seconds, then he bent forward a little and let out a pinched squeal. Dr. Chiu moved swiftly to take up a squat behind him, reassuring hands on thighs.

"Status, Chewy?" Clay asked.

"I see a head coming," she reported cheerily. "And coming pretty fast, actually, wow."

"Hear that, Des?"

Desmond didn't _need_ to hear that; he was _quite_ aware of this latest development, since his pain had suddenly become a lot more sharp and intense. "Ow, ow, shit, ow... nggh!"

"Right, now you're going to feel a burn," Dr. Chiu advised him. "Just stay calm."

Staying calm was _hard_. Desmond's eyes bugged as he breathed, in-out, in-out, in-out, each cycle sharp and short. His legs felt wobbly, numb almost, and he gripped Clay even tighter to stop from collapsing. A tortured moan rumbled out of his half-open mouth.

Clay hated hearing him in such pain. "Stay strong. The end of this agony is in sight."

Desmond forced himself to take a deep breath, then bore down again. "Urrrgg- gah!"

"Aaand we have head out! Nice job; you can take a little rest from pushing." Dr. Chiu worked quickly to suction the tiny mouth and nose. "Now we're _really_ almost finished."

"Jesus fucking finally. Oh man, I'm so tired, Clay." Desmond leaned his weary head on the monitor. "It's not fair you're all code... you've stayed up with me this whole time and never got tired."

"If I could take your exhaustion onto myself, I would," Clay assured him.

"And the pain, too?"

"The pain too."

Desmond kissed the screen.

Clay grinned in absolute delight.

Dr. Chiu noticed another tensing of Desmond's limbs. "Ready to push again, so soon?"

"Urg, in just a mo' here, yeah." Desmond winced at the building contraction. "Shoulda tried this upright position thing before; apparently it's goddamn magic for making 'em fall right out!"

"Lo, the astounding 'magic' of gravity," Clay said, wiggling his fingers.

"Oh man- nnh." Desmond shifted his feet further apart on the floor. "Chewy, oohh, get ready to catch!"

"Ready whenever," she chirped.

"Good, 'cause here I go-oooohhh!" The end of the last word became a throaty vocalization. Desmond's head thumped against the monitor and he briefly saw stars as he felt a sliding something finally leave his body.

"Alllll right... Congratulations, guys." There was an audible smile in Dr. Chiu's voice.

"I did it," Desmond said softly. "I did it."

"You sure did." The doctor had received the newborn into a terrycloth towel and was gently rubbing them clean with it. 

"That's my Desmond," Clay said. Again he wanted to reach out and touch the man, embrace him in this special moment, but lacked the ability to do so. 

For now he consoled himself with silently sending out a message to their close contacts: _The new little eagle has landed._

A small sound arose- the baby's first cry. Desmond turned around stiff-legged to get a look.

"Here you go: the fruit of your labor." Dr. Chiu swaddled the baby up in a clean blanket and handed them over. "Nice and healthy."

Desmond's whole face was soon awash in happy tears; he was in absolute awe of the tiny being in his arms. "Oh my god. Wow."

Clay sent a signal to the camera to extend it out so he could get a better look. "Oo, she's got your hair."

"Sure does. Wait a minute. 'She'?"

Clay's image on the monitor held up his hands in a "What? Did I say something wrong?" gesture.

"Well, let's see. Um." With a little difficulty, Desmond shuffled to the bed and carefully collapsed into it, then picked up the edge of the towel to peek underneath. "Oh... you are _right_." He looked up at Clay and smirked. "Though I guess you did have a fifty-fifty chance anyway."

Clay shrugged sheepishly. "To be honest... I did actually know."

Desmond snorted. "You peeked at the baby genes inside me, huh? Oh, that's not fair, using your computery Animus stuff like that."

"Hey, if I have to live like this I might as well take advantage of it when I can."

"And so you suggested 'Tadeusz' even though you knew it was gonna be 'Helen' in the end?"

Clay shrugged again. "Would you have really gone along with Tadeusz?"

"Maybe. Aw hell, yeah I would've. It's a great name, actually." Desmond laughed and hugged the baby close to his chest, his heartbeat soothing the last lingering cries away. "Oh my god. Clay." 

"Yes?"

"This is _real_ , Clay." Desmond sniffed. "We really have a _baby_. We're really _parents_ now."

"Yes... we really are." Clay sounded a little sad. "Though only one of us is going to be of any use for parental duties."

"Look, digital or not, you're still her parent, all right? Maybe you can't change her diapers or mix her formula, but you can still like... Sing her lullabies. Read her bedtime stories. Help teach her to talk and stuff."

Clay sighed and moved his camera again, trying to capture every single little detail of his lover and their child. It was a lovely scene. He wished he could be in it.

Desmond suppressed a frown. "Hey, Helen." He picked up the baby's arm and made them wave at Clay's camera as it moved closer. "Say hi to your Tata."

Clay's mouth opened without sound.

Desmond smiled at his reaction, and decided to go a little further. He put on a high-pitched baby-type voice and made Helen wave again. "Chess-ich, Tata!"

Clay's face cracked into another wide grin. "Tata. I like that."

"Hella easier than the other word I found for 'dad'," Desmond said, snickering.

"Come on, you managed 'cześć', you could manage 'ojciec'," Clay said, shaking his head. "But I do like Tata. You and me... Daddy and Tata." He blinked. "Rebecca's sent me a message. Wants to know if you're decent, if she can come in."

Desmond shifted a little awkwardly in the bed. He was dressed in a well-worn long tee, which was now sweaty, and newly bloodstained in the lower region. "Is it something real urgent? I was hoping to maybe change and-"

Clay interrupted with a startled noise.

"What, what is it?" Dr. Chiu asked, sitting up straight. "Trouble?"

"She has an upgrade for me!" Clay was talking fast, his avatar twitchy, bright-eyed. "And just in time, too!"

Desmond looked miffed. "Can't this upgrade wait 'till we get settled with baby? Haven't even cut the cord yet."

"Oh, but that's just it! She's built an attachment, you see, with-" There came a knock on the door, and Clay shouted, "Come in, come in!"

Dr. Chiu pulled a sheet over Desmond just in time, for the next second Rebecca rushed into the room. "Guys, I'm so sorry I didn't get this to you before!" she said excitedly, brandishing a long mechanical thing, all pistons and wires, with thin skeletal "fingers" on one end.

Desmond gaped. "You built him an arm! Woah!"

"Yeah," she shrugged, setting to work connecting it. "Been working on it a while; wanted to surprise ya with a nice tactile-haptic system so he can feel stuff, but that's ridiculous hard and won't be ready for a while. _However_ , I had a fuckin' great idea just a bit ago!" She turned to Dr. Chiu. "Doc, c'mere and bring over some surgical scissors."

Clay's screen was positively glowing. "Do you understand what this means, Desmond? I can cut the cord! And not just that! I can hold your hand, I can tuck Helen into bed, all sorts of things!"

"Helen, huh?" Rebecca glanced over, seeing the baby for the first time. "Sweet. Congrats." She plugged one final connection and then flipped the camera a thumbs-up. "Go ahead, give it a whirl."

Clay moved his new arm, carefully, to pick up the scissors from Dr. Chiu's outstretched hand. "Haha! Yes! This is perfect! Well not _perfect_ ," he added as an aside, " _perfect_ would include the sense of touch, but it's certainly an improvement over nothing at all. Thank you so very, very much."

"Yeah, that's frickin' awesome! Unh." Desmond grimaced at a dull pain starting up in his belly. "Oh boy, here's coming the placenta. Becca, sorry, can you leave? I kinda don't want any superfluous witnesses to things coming outta my crotch."

"Right, I'll go let everyone know you made it okay through the birth. Just gimme a holler if that arm needs any adjustments or whatever," Rebecca said, and graciously showed herself out.

While Clay started practicing with the scissors in the air, fine-tuning the electric impulses he sent to the mechanical fingers, Dr. Chiu sat down at the foot of the bed and smiled at Desmond. "How're you feeling?"

"Mmf. Kinda crampy. But happy." He ran his hand over Helen's messy dark hair. "She's sleeping, can you believe it?"

"You can sleep too, once this bit's done." She pulled back the sheet and tugged gently on the cord. "Little push, easy now." To Desmond's great relief, the afterbirth's passing was barely noticeable. "Right, good job, everything looks good." The doctor looked up at Clay. "You got the hang of those scissors?"

"I believe so. Push me a little closer to the bed, if you don't mind." Clay made a mental note to ask Rebecca for an upgrade allowing him to roll the cart around on his own volition.

Desmond unwrapped Helen's blanket and held her steady as Clay extended his arm and carefully cut the umbilical. Perhaps due to the chill air in the medical room, the baby awoke just as the deed was done. They didn't cry, though; just blinked at Clay's machinery and curled their fingers around a fold of Desmond's shirt.

Dr. Chiu took the cord and placenta and went to dispose of them, giving the three a few minutes alone.

"Moja kochanie," Clay said, his voice smooth as silk.

"What's that mean?" Desmond asked.

"Oh, it's 'my sweetie'; 'my darling'; 'my insert-your-favored-term-of-endearment'."

Desmond smiled. "Can I call you that too? Or- ooh! What's 'guardian angel' in Polish?"

Clay set down the scissors and sighed. "It's... 'Anioł Stróż'. But I've told you before, there's no such-"

"Hey, you 'died' but you're still alive," Desmond said, tucking the blanket back around Helen. "And you protect me, and you love me. I think that covers all the bases, doesn't it?"

Clay smiled resignedly. "All right, all right. I'm your guardian angel."

"And you're hers now, too," Desmond added, tilting his head at Helen.

"Hm. Big shoes to fill. For someone who doesn't have feet, even.... I'll do my best, though." Clay reached out slowly and touched the baby's chin with one cautious finger. "Desmond i Helen. Moje kochanie... I'll be with you until the end."

Helen's bright eyes sparkled, cheeks a hearty pink.

Clay hoped to the God he didn't believe in that someday he could kiss those cheeks.


End file.
